Dell XPS 13 2015 Skylake Infinity Display Owners Thread

I understand it and your hours with QHD are awesome.

Then to decide between FHD and QHD . What could be the real difference of battery?

I tried to read all the messages of this thread and others, and even I have not clear .

By the way, I bought the Surface Pro 4 and had two units with an incredible light bleeding apart only made 5 hours or little more battery, of course I returned them.

I see the XPS 13 as a worthy substitute for SP4 but need to have more clear the battery topic differences between FHD and QHD models.

Thank you.

 

Yep, I was in the same boat. My i5 SP4 had light bleed, around 5 hours battery life (or less), etc. Couldn't justify price with all of that. Not with the XPS 13 as another option.

Sure you could get some more input on FHD battery life. The previous broadwell systems wouldn't be too far off. Although historically you'd see another 2-3 hours on average, versus the QHD.

 

I haven't been able to completely transition over to the new fhd xps 13 yet... Still need to clean up my old computer beefier migrating. But I can tell you about sleep life... I haven't plugged it in for 5 days, I've used it lightly for maybe two hours total on low brightness, and it's got 60% battery life remaining. My old computer would die completely overt one night if I didn't plug it in!

 

In my country there is not much price difference between SP4 and XPS 13 , so my first choice was the SP4. I like more the SP4 3:2 aspect ratio that 16:9, for me the XPS with 16:10 will be perfect, and had advantages as can be tablet or the pen , but see that bleeding and the bad battery makes a ridiculous option right now.

 

got my laptop back.
microsoft store said they were backlogged by a week. got it back the day after. apparently dell did a really shoddy/rushed job when they sent it to me. store rep told me my hard drive was set to raid when it should be set to ahci (though i don't know too much about this). i'm still at a loss for why i couldn't access system restore / factory reset or any of the essential functions when things began to fall apart.

impressions:
i'm not sure how i can ask for much more.
this really is a gorgeous laptop.
i won't be taxing it nearly as much as when i used to game much more, but even then, it's really hard to fault too much about it.

i plan on replacing the wifi card with an 8260 if it's reported to be a decent improvement over the stock card and grab a 1tb (950 samsung) when it is released to obviate the need for hooking it up to an external. i may come back and add some details, but in the meantime, just let me say that i feel vindicated even if i'm probably overlooking the difficulties involved in setting up the device.

 

Check this video:

Generally speaking there would be about 2-3 hours difference (many people say 6-7 hrs for QHD+ and 8-9 hrs for FHD). If you can lower the power consumption (low brightness, keyboard backlight off, use Edge, no antivirus and other bloatware) then you can get aditional 1 hour from QHD+ and I would say the FHD could give you 10-11 hrs.

 

Does anyone know if the Core I3 version will give you even more battery life and generate less heat? There are no reviews on the core i3 version anywhere.

 

It may give you a few percent more but I am not sure it is worth it. The i5 with Turbo boost helps to load things more quickly (even websites). The i5 version doesnt get hot at all (the fan on FHD kicks in only when gaming and similar intensive tasks are done). But if you just want to save money, I would say you can go for the i3 without worries.

 

I purchased and installed today the Intel 8260 to replace my factory Dell Broadcom. MUCH better reception on both my 2.4 and 5 GHz bands. No longer does it hesitate to start the device or find networks. So far, it's been working great!

Fairly simple procedure if you have the correct tool.
Manual.

XPS13 9350
QHD+
i7 / 256 GB

 

i just got a 9350 delivered, i7/512/16gb/qhd
love it but the touchpad is as disaster....im coming from a 7 year old sony vaio sr430 and that blows this one away. its a shame that i might have to return this because everything else about it is unbelievable, screen, 7 hour battery, etc
i tried forcing the synaptics driver and it helped a little but its still absolutely awful, cursor jumps when scrolling, jumps when i put it on 1 certain small spot lke closing a tab. i did the windows update too..amazing how they can screw this up, or that windows cant fix this with a driver

 

Try turning off pinch to zoom. I had some minor issues like that with the touchpad before doing so; mostly in chrome. It works great now. No complaints.

 

Yeah i did turn that off, and it did improve a bit but it seems like overall its a lot to get used to compared to the old vaio...ugh lol

 

Try changing your "enhance pointer precision" settings. If it is already checked, uncheck it. If it is not, check it. See if it helps

When you restart the computer after updating Wireless and BT drivers, do you have problems with BT. When I switched it out with a 7265, BT was not compatible with the platform. Also, I didn't notice a difference with reception or speeds. It was already good and fast. Maybe my router has something to do with it.

 

I am also a FHD owner now.
Two issues so far:
1) coil whining, until now subtle, but I can clearly hear it if I come close to the "g" letter.
2) screen bleeding:

Is this kind of bleeding normal? I had three ultrabooks the last months, and each of them had some kind of bleeding, however not that annoying.

 

Does bluetooth work with this one because it doesn't with the 7265? Thanks.

 

I have the QHD version with 256gb SSD . Everything is working fine . Except one thing which is troubling me a lot. The audio driver has some problem . When i boot up , more often than not , the speakers dont work and all the apps which use speakers also dont work.
After a restart , this problem is corrected . I have tried updating the audio drivers ,but didnt work .
Any solutions ?
Thanks

 

Bluetooth works great with the Intel 8260!

I downloaded the drivers from Intel ( here), put them on a usb stick, and once it rebooted I ran the .exe file. Took about 3 minutes and wifi came on and about 2 minutes later, BT was recognized. I transferred some files between my computer and phone with no problems.

 

Photos tend to exaggerate light bleed, a lot. But if it looks like that in person and/or with normal viewing, I'd say that is excessive. Others with FHD can chime in; but many folks tend to not care or notice. In particular if they don't spend much time with a bright backlight, in a dark room, watching dark scenes. So you may want to try "normal" use and see if it shows up and/or bothers you.

However, light bleed is unfortunately very common with IPS displays. With that said, this is exactly why I got the QHD model. I've had many of these displays from Dell and have always been impressed. The Sharp IGZO IPS QHD Touch panel Dell has been using is excellent. Of the 5-6 XPS systems I've had with that panel, none have had light bleed, including my XPS 13 w/ QHD.

Any other display, and it's a roll of the dice. With odds greatly against you that you'll get a "good" panel.

As for coil whine? Lots of systems have it and it's very hard to notice unless you put your head to the keyboard.

I haven't had that happen yet. Although many of us have disabled the Waves MaxxAudio feature from a few posts back as it was causing audio distortion with Windows Sounds. I'd start there. In either case, hopefully Dell releases an updated driver soon.

 

Is the Intel 8260 much better than the Broadcom chip (especially for 5Ghz)? And why is the 8260 still the same spec (2x433Mpbs) as the 7260 from two and a half years ago (Haswell). Also which M2 part do we need the 2230 or the 1216?

 

For me, the Broadcom chip was hardly usable with my 5Ghz band so yes, the Intel 8260 is way better. I ordered my replacement card on Amazon with the following technical specs:

Operating Systems: Only work on Microsoft Windows 7 Windows 7 Windows 10
Product Name: Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 8260
Model Number: 8260NGW
Connector interface: NGFF
Spees(Max): 867Mbps
Streams: 2X2
Bluetooth: Bluetooth 4.2
Frequency: Dual Band 2.4/5GHz
802.11a/b/g/n/ac

 

my laptop feels hot constantly, fan works in diag test but idle temp is around 49-53C and when im browsing chrome with some tabs it gets into low 60s
isnt this too hot? its one thing to accept the touchpad woes but i cant have this burning my stomach by just online shopping
i7/512/16/qhd
thanks
edit: speeds seem to idle at 33 to 35 maybe it just needed to cool down

 

Xps 13 i7/16gb..cannot conect to any bluetooth device..tried reinstalling drivers, but no luck. Any thoughts?

 

How are verifying the CPU temperature's as you browse?

 

Never mind. I figured it. I had my headphones in non-discoverable mode. As for my phone BT connections (Samsung note 4), it does pair, but never shows as connected. Only when you transfer you transfer a file does it connect, and goes back to being in paired status. So all good

 

im using HWmonitor

 

I wonder why the write speed of the hard disk is so slow when Anand found much higher speeds here http://www.anandtech.com/show/9396/samsung-sm951-nvme-256gb-pcie-ssd-review . Can someone confirm that it is the same hard disk with the one in the review of Anand?

 

RAID mode just means to use of the Intel RST drivers basically. This is the default configuration by Dell. You may want to check your performance with both configurations, and it has been reported the default raid is faster.....

 

I send again my post.

"QUOTE:
Looks like switching the storage setting from RAID to AHCI fixed things or something."


Yes, but factory setting expect to be set to Raid On.

It happens because with clean installation you remove Samsung SSD drivers, and Windows does not recognize it correctly.
If you leave AHCI, you get problems rebooting the XPS (freezing on DELL logo), and if you noticed you CAN'T use Intel Rapide Storage (you can't install it).

You have FIRST download RST from Intel website, load drivers before Windows installation and instlall Windows.

Everything is well explained at the following link:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/3rxyo3/fix_guide_xps_13_9350_screen_freezing/

 

If you have the 256GB model or higher capacity, you should get similar numbers to the test from anandtech. 128GB uses a regular sata controller, so you're limited to sata speeds.

 

If his laptop has the oem ssd then it has the Pm951 not Sm951. Their performance are quite different.

 

You are right. The Pm has 300
write speed.

 

what battery wear level do you have? I had 1,4% right out of the box, after the first full load I now get 5%!

 

0% wear after a months of 10h daily use. I actually have 57.5Wh instead of the 56 that they officially sell with.

 

A few of us think these battery wear measurements are not accurate but are due to the Dell BIOS settings limiting the amount of full charge. This is to preserve the life of the battery, and you can fully adjust these settings either in the BIOS or Dell Command Power application. The default is usually Adaptive battery management, see the software for a full explanation of each option

 

Hello everyone,

I bought a Dell XPS 13 9350, 1080p FHD, Core i5, 8 GB RAM, and 256 GB PCI SSD.

Unfortunately, I had a loose trackpad like a few of you. If you lightly tap the trackpad, it would make a clicking sound even though I didn't press down all the way to click.

So I followed the Youtube video shared in this thread to open the XPS 13 and used electrical tape to fix the trackpad. It fixed the problem, but it was difficult to open the computer. I learned that you have to use a plastic pry tool on the back of the computer where the fans are, and then the rest of the computer is easy to open.

I had a lot of problems with the screws in the XPS 13. I bought a Torx T5 screwdriver to open the screws on the bottom thinking that that would be the only issue. That was actually the easy part. The screws holding down the battery are so weak and easy to strip the screw. There are supposed to be 4 screws holding down the battery, but I had to throw out 2 stripped screws which were damaged when I tried to remove them.

Then the plastic clips (which snap the bottom aluminum piece to the rest of the computer) inside the XPS 13 are weak. I broke the one in front of the trackpad (to the left) when removing the battery and it touched the clip. Fortunately, the Torx T5 screws are redundant with the plastic clips in holding the bottom aluminum piece together.

The trackpad is better, but it feels a little mushy now on the right side (more sunken down) while the left side of the trackpad is higher up. I don't really recommend anyone taking apart their new XPS 13 to fix the trackpad. It's probably better to get an exchange. The computer will not feel the same after you open it up.

By the way, I used 2 pieces of electrical tape under the trackpad. 3 pieces worked as well, but it made the trackpad stick up above the carbon fiber and it didn't look right.

It's a nice computer, but I wish Dell could have better quality control. There was even someone's handwriting inside my XPS 13 9350 under the trackpad where they drew two dots and two numbers to the right of the dots (forgot what the numbers were). I'm wondering what that person was thinking since my trackpad was obviously loose/not properly installed at the factory.

 

Is possible to get HDMI 2.0 with any adapter? I am thinking to connect the XPS 13 to a Samsung TV 4K but I want 4k@60hz

Does anyone tried it?

Thank you

 

Did anyone test this thunderbolt 3 dock? One of the first out there on the market.

http://store.hp.com/NetherlandsStore/Merch/Product.aspx?id=P5Q54AA&opt=ABB&sel=ACC
http://store.hp.com/UKStore/Merch/Product.aspx?id=P5Q54AA&opt=&sel=DEF

 

Hi there

I have the QHD 512MB which has been great so far, aside from one strange issue. If I connect to an external monitor (I have tried three), the customize display settings are disabled - I cannot scale the screen or change the orientation. I have the external monitor selected as the only device (it works fine if I on the laptop screen). I have tried updating the video driver (which updated to a later one than the DELL web-site) but it made no difference.

Has anyone else seen this?

thanks

 

Ugh, so sorry to hear about your experience. A few thoughts for others facing this dilemma.

First, keep in mind an exchange may not resolve the problem. In researching this issue, I've read several stories about people who exchanged their computers just to receive another one with a loose trackpad.

Additionally, I've read accounts from people who had their trackpads replaced and they were still loose. The problem is VERY pervasive -- including on other devices with these Microsoft precision touchpads -- so much so that some speculate it's a design flaw.

Finally, before you take the radical step of opening up your computer, take some time to see how bad the problem really is. I've personally found that any looseness in my trackpad went away after a few minutes as the computer warmed up. I've also found it only feels loose when I'm typing on my desk (as opposed to on my lap).

Anyway, just my two cents. Sorry again to hear about your unfortunate experience.

 

This may sound obvious and maybe even stupid to some, but for those with loose trackpads, try tightening the torx screws. It's possible that it may have shipped with slightly loose screws. I noticed this when putting the laptop back together and purposefully not tightening the screws all the way just in case I needed to open the case again after booting. It was then that I felt the loose trackpad issue that many people have been talking about here. This is not a guarantee, just a suggestion before you try exchanging or using the fix mention in this thread.

 

Dell XPS 13 9350, 1080p FHD, Core i5, 8 GB RAM, and 256 GB PCI SSD.

I'm not sure I can live with the touchpad. It has to be the worst touchpad experience I have had in more than 18 years of laptop ownership. It is driving me crazy with delays and how imprecise it is. I also tried one in the Microsoft Store and experienced the same issue, which has me wondering if I'm crazy or no one else has ever used a half-way decent touchpad.

Yes, I've disabled pinch-to-zoom. Yes, I've tried with 'Enhance pointer precision' on and off'. I've tried the Synaptics drivers and while pointing/cursor movement is much improved scrolling leaves a lot to be desired.

Any other suggestions? I'm just outside of my 14 day return window, maybe I should contact Dell and have them send someone out to look at it.

 

Hi

Not sure if this helps, but my touchpad is absolutely fine. It's precise, and not laggy, so I wonder if it is a hardware fault? Either way, very frustrating.

 

i do think there is something to supersaf's post. had a similar experience when i experimented with the layers of electrical tape and the screws off.
having said that, as a total newb to laptop innards, the fix was rather transparent if you just follow the video. take your time, etc.
since the fix, i've had, well, no complaints at all about the trackpad.

there's a firefox addon as well that changes your double tap effectively into a middle click.

someone a few posts ago said dell has awful quality control; devastatingly salient.

 

Did you try updating the video driver from here:

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/do...a-Graphics-Driver-for-Windows-7-8-1-10-15-40-

 

i7/16gb/1tb

Did you folks notice that when you play a movie from the Netflix app, very now and then the movie blacks for a split second. Did anyone notice the same? At times when I play the video through IE edge or IE10 the video just gets stuck while the audio continues. The only solution is to kill the video and restart the movie. Any thoughts on what can be done?

 

I

I am in the same boat , very frustrating!!!

 

So this is intriguing but my guess is this doesn't apply for the FHD versions?

http://www.anandtech.com/show/9869/...ent-adaptive-brightness-control-on-the-xps-13

 

this wont let me install it, gives me a driver error, is there a way to force install it? i cant find intel video driver temp folder to try to force it

 

I just tried this update and got an interesting ERROR message stating this operating system is not supported.

 

Make sure you use the 32 or 64 bit version based on the OS you have installed.
Follow the instructions as indicated here:
http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3519/t/19659608